UFO ROUNDUP

Volume 10
Number 7
February 16, 2005

Editor: Joseph Trainor

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LARGE TRIANGULAR UFO SIGHTED OVER PARIS

"A large triangular object was observed over Paris
two nights ago," i.e. on Monday, February 7, 2005."

At 9:50 p.m., French ufologist Mathieu Cozanet and a
friend were walking through "a small public park at the
corner of the Rue D'Alesia and the Rue Vercingetorix in
the First Arrondissement (urban district--J.T.) of Paris.
The object was seen about 9:50 p.m., moving slowly through
the sky at about rooftop height."

"'It was dark and, for Paris, an unusually clear
night,'" Cozanet reported, "'And I chanced to look up to
see the stars. At that moment, I saw the craft, just
visible against the night sky, moving across the Rue
Vercingetorix and disappearing over the roof of a
building. Unfortunately, the other person was looking in
another direction and did not see anything.'"

"On June 30, 2004, another witness in Paris observed
a triangular object, lit with a bright light at each
corner and a red one in the center, passing silently
overhead. Shortly thereafter, a second triangle appeared,
this one brightly lit, and remained visible for a few
seconds." (See Banque OVNI for February 7, 2005,
"Triangle au-dessus de Paris." Merci beaucoup a Robert
Fischer pour cette nouvelles.)

UFOs SIGHTED IN KENT AND CAMBRIDGESHIRE

"Strange bright lights seen in the sky of Chatteris,"
Cambridgeshire, "were reported to the Ministry of Defence
(MoD) last month (January 2005) and was one of Britain's
first UFO sightings of the new year."

"These observations, which were reported by members
of the public on Saturday, January 15, 2005, was one of a
number of cases revealed from records of unidentified
flying objects released by the Ministry of Defence's UFO
Unit."

"Also this night, another similar sighting was
reported from Whitstable, Kent, UK, and a 'flying saucer'
was reported over Stoke-on-Trent."

"When the Cambs. Times asked people in Chatteris
about the sighting, some said they saw a number of bright
lights in the sky at around the time the (UFO) reports
were submitted" to MoD.

"From the information released, it was revealed that
MoD's UFO Unit received 88 reports from members of the
public concerned about strange objects in British skies."
(See the Wisbech Standard for February 10, 2005, "UFO
sightings in Chatteris first of year." Many thanks to
Robert Fischer and Stuart Miller for this newspaper
article.)

CROP CIRCLES APPEAR IN EASTERN ARGENTINA

"More circles in grass were found at a potato
processing plant on Route 88" near Mar del Plata, a large
seaport in Argentina's Buenos Aires province. "The circle
is completely closed and (the area) was monitored" by
closed-circuit TV cameras.

"No explanation for the strange phenomenon has been
found."

"More mysterious circular formations were found
yesterday (Thursday, February 10, 2005) on the grass in
several local areas, similar to the one found at El
Paraiso at the 20-kilometer marker on Route 226."

"This time, one of the cases--believed by many to be
associated with UFO sightings--took place at the Fernando
Hermanos Potato Processing plant, located on Route 88 in
Hernandarias, 6 kilometers (4 miles) from El Paraiso."

"The discovery was made Wednesday morning (February
9, 2005) but was reported yesterday by company
management."

"'While it did seem to be something strange, we gave
it little importance,'" a spokesman for Fernando Hermanos
told the Argentinian newspaper La Capital, "'When we read
in the paper that something similar had happened on Route
226, we reported the case.'"

The crop circles, "around 10 in number--appeared in a
broad lot in the middle of the establishment, next to a
greenhouse and a truck loading and unloading dock."

"The premises are fenced in and monitored, thus
dismissing the possibility that a stranger could have
broken in during the night."

"One of the first to become aware of the situation
was Hugo Giovannangelo, who performs maintenance duties
for the company. 'I arrived at 7 p.m. and, when I went
out to the lot, I saw some very strange rings. I was
accompanied by a co-worker, with whom I jested that UFOs
might be involved.'"

"According to company management, no activity was
carried on in that part of the premises which could
account for the strange phenomenon. 'We only mow the
grass there. No chemical products are dumped there, and
trucks weren't allowed to park on it.'"

"Giovannangelo was startled by another fact. He
stated that the guard dog was 'very nervous and
aggressive' when he went out to feed it."

"Oddly enough, at El Paraiso, where a local resident
claimed having seen a light in the night sky, something
similar happened to the animals. 'We couldn't sleep all
night because the dogs were restless and the pigs were
squealing,' said one woman."

"There were no witnesses on hand to explain what
happened Wednesday morning in the case recorded at the
potato plant. All of the personnel left Tuesday (February
8, 2005) at 10:30 p.m. after having eaten a meal. Only a
watchman was left on the site, who claims having seen
nothing at all."

Footage of the crop circles was aired in Argentina on
Canal (Channel) 2 in Mar del Plata and on Canal (Channel)
9 in the city of Buenos Aires. The cable TV channel
Cronica also aired TV footage of the phenomenon.

A farmer saw a UFO about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from
El Paraiso at the same time the crop circles appeared.
"Romelio Tapia, a local resident, reported hearing a
strange noise around 2 a.m. 'similar to that of a strong
wind or a turbine,' and he raised some blinds in his
bedroom to see what was going on. At that time, he
noticed a pair of yellowish lights--similar to mercury
vapor lamps--floating above a small grove of trees not far
from his house. Tapia estimates that the lights were 3 to
4 meters (10 to 13 feet) above the ground. The lights
seemed diffused, as though surrounded by a mist, and rose
into the air before they vanished."

"Upon examining the terrain at first light, locals
discovered two strange circular marks of equal diameter"
that "had appeared at the Tapia farm. Upon closer
examination, they ascertained that it was some kind of ash
that left a greasy black residue upon contact with the
skin."

"After the report to the local authorities, elements
of the forensic police arrived at the site to collect
samples of the ash and the grass, but they subsequently
decided to remove" the entire layer of topsoil "leaving it
utterly bare."

"It is interesting to note in the days prior to the
incident, the daughter of one of the residents suffered
nightmares in which a luminous object 'was after her.'
Upon awakening, she would make drawings of the object,
which showed a typical saucer shape, with a crystal dome
and legs in some cases." (See the newspaper La Capital of
Buenos Aires, Argentina for February 11, 2005, "Mystery
prints found at industrial park." Muchas gracias a Scott
Corrales y Christian Quintero por este articulo de
diario.)

BRAZIL RELEASES FILES ON 1977 UFO FLAP

Brazil recently declassified security files
pertaining to Operation Saucer, a top-secret investigation
by the Fuerza Aerea Brasileira (FAB or Brazilian Air
Force--J.T.) into the 1977 UFO flap in the northern state
of Para.

"During the months of October, November and December
1977 and the first half of 1978, the Brazilian state of
Para had been invaded by UFOs," the newspaper O Liberal
reported, "And it wasn't simply sightings. Nothing to do
with mysterious lights wandering at high altitudes. It
was about bright objects in several shapes and sizes
flying over the Baia de Marajo region (a bay at the mouth
of the Amazon River, about 800 kilometers or 500 miles
north of Brasilia, the national capital--J.T.) at low
altitudes, a few meters above the trees and firing strange
light beams at people."

"The people harmed by the phenomenon--one of the most
important in world ufology--gave several names to the
bright and silent objects--vampire lights, bugs, the
thing, and simply chupa-chupa (Portuguese for the sucker--
J.T.)"

Witnesses "said the object's pilots were no more than
1.2 to 1.3 meters (3 feet, eight inches to four feet)
high."

"The people called it chupa-chupa because of the neck
scars that some of the witnesses bore on their bodies.
The light beams used to leave strange marks on their skin.
Among many, the scars were on their heads. They seemed to
lose blood during the attacks."

"Men and women complained of giddiness and fatigue
after the attacks. The inhabitants of the cities of
Colares, Santo Antonio de Tauca, Mosqueiro and Baia do Sul
pondered on those days of bitter remembrance. The panic
even reached the state's capital, Belem, with a sequence
of strange lights reports and chupa-chupa attacks in
several quarters of the city."

"The military report, called Operation Saucer, holds
2,000 pages, 500 photographs and 16 hours of (movie) film.
It was sent to the leading officers of the Brazilian Air
Force. At that time, however, the country was under a
dictatorship and, because of this, the documents were
classified Top Secret for 23 years. The Servicio Nacional
da Informacoes (SNI) and the FAB Special Services Unit
lobbied hard to keep the report classified."

FAB Capt. Uyrange Hollanda gave an interview to
Adelmar J. Gevaerd, editor of the Brazilian monthly
magazine Revista UFO. describing many of the cases
investigated by Operation Saucer. Capt. Hollanda "was the
operations commander sent by the (Brazilian) government to
investigate the facts and interview the chupa-chupa
witnesses."

"One of the most interesting reports came from
Claudomira Paixao of Baia do Sul. 'On the night of
October 18, 1977,' Claudomira "woke up when a strange
light appeared through the house's window. The air got
warmer. At first the light was green. It touched my head
and covered my face. I woke up completely, and the light
became red. I could see a creature, like a man, wearing
something like a diver's clothes. It held a device like a
pistol. It aimed at me, and the (pistol-like) object
blinked three times, as if shooting at my breast, almost
landing at the same place. It was hot and hurt me. I
felt like some needles were piercing me. I think they
collected my blood. I was terrified. I couldn't even
move my lips. I was shocked.'"

"Also in Baia do Sul, witnesses 'were talking about
the appearance of a space couple that shot at a woman with
a light-beam pistol, leaving her fainted for several
minutes.'"

"Capt. Hollanda recalled, 'We always told them,
'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!' But once, a strange light
had been aimed at a carpenter. The man was 50 or 60 years
old. He took his rifle and shot at the flying saucer.
The light surrounded him, and he fell to the ground,
almost paralyzed. For 15 days, the carpenter could barely
move. On the first day, that man didn't move at all. He
could see, hear and speak. But it was very difficult for
him to move.'"

"A Colares fisherman also saw UFOs coming in and out
of the waters of Baia de Marajo (bay). Sometimes they
could see the bluish light moving under the water."

"'Once I was sleeping when the sergeants--members of
the (FAB) operation--told me they had just taken a
photograph of a flying saucer diving into the water close
to a fishing boat. I went to the dock and waited for the
fisherman. When he came back, he told me what had
happened. He was terrified,'" the captain said.

"'Several weeks later, I saw a light close to a
fishing boat. It was blue and circled the boat, covering
about 300 meters (1,000 feet). Then it dived into the
water. There wasn't any sound. It was like a blade
passing through the water,' Capt. Hollanda said."

"Operation Saucer never came to an end. The FAB
cancelled the research" in June 1978 "without any
explanation."

Following his interview with Revista UFO in 1997,
Capt. Hollanda "was found hanged with his own bathrobe
belt on the second floor of his house by his daughter."
(See the Brazilian newspaper O Liberal for February 7,
2005. Muito obrigado a T. Peter Park, Steve Wilson Sr. e
Brunilda Barros por esto articulo.)

UFOs APPEAR TWICE OVER MEXICO'S POPOCATEPETL

On Friday, February 4, 2005, a silvery daylight disc
appeared over Mount Popocatepetl, a lofty volcano located
65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Mexico City.

According to the witnesses, "We were astounded, to
say the least, after reviewing our video recordings on
February 4th, when a television camera turned towards a
glowing object that was fixed in the daytime sky and began
to zoom in on what can only be described as an
Unidentified Flying Object. We were able to obtain some
pretty good coverage free of static showing the outlines
of the silver object. We then saved the image we had
recordered and added it to the rest of the photos we have
posted."

"Another amazing fact is that the same object
returned on Saturday, February 5 (2005) in the same spot
in the sky at the exact same moment. This has been
confirmed by the time-index of the photo which was 13:37
(1:37 p.m.)."

"Although the Feb. 5th photos came out less clear
than those of the previous day, the object is still quite
visible."

The operators have been monitoring Mount Popocatepetl
since February 2001 and "have seen similar shaped objects
numerous times."

UFO Roundup readers can check out the photos at this
URL... http://community.webshots.com/user/spyman05

Mount Popocatepetl is probably Mexico's hottest UFO
spot, with hundreds of sightings since 1993. Silver
daylight discs have been seen and videotaped just west of
the volcano at San Rafael, Ozumba, Tepetlixpa and
Tlalmanalco, as well.
(Many thanks to "Spyman" for this report.)

OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS UFO OVER IQUIQUE, CHILE

On Friday, February 4, 2005, "Carlos Bruna, an
official with the city of Iquique in Chile's First
Region," just south of that country's border with Peru,
"visited Playa Tres Islas (beach), a ten-minute drive from
the city to take a break. Since he had purchased a
digital camera in recent days, he began taking photos of
the (Andes) mountains and their contrast with the summery
blue sky."

(Editor's Note: Right now it's summer in Chile and
Australia and the other countries of Earth's southern
hemisphere.)

"To his surprise, upon loading the photos into his
computer, he saw that one of the images showed a lens-
shaped object, expelling some sort of white energy, flying
high above the mountains."

"'The fact is that when they informed me that this
was the case, I only expected to see the alleged evidence.
I thought it might correspond to one of many explained
phenomena. But I think the photo shows some interesting
details,' said Rodrigo Fuenzalida," director of the
Chilean UFO group AION.

"'When I received the material, I found that the
mountains were too well-outlined, and the colors had a
curious clarity. However, upon listening to Carlos, I
found his account to be an honest one. I think the photo
is genuine. Now the challenge consists of determining the
origins of the stimulus captured by the camera's eye,'"
Fuenzalida added.

"According to AION's representative in (Chile's)
Region 1, Mario Pizarro, the image is genuine and studies
conducted on the site" at Playa Tres Islas "suggest that
the object had a diameter of 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13
feet)." (Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Guillermo
Gimenez para estas noticias.)

MYSTERY STREAK CAPTURED ON CAMERA IN HAWAII

"The streak, which can be viewed in motion on a NASA
Webpage, was captured on film by a camera positioned on an
active volcano at Haleakala, Hawaii. It moved from
southeast to northwest. According to the NASA site, the
streak was spotted on the night of December 17, 2004."

"Another camera, trained on the night sky of Hawaii,
at Mauna Kea also captured the image."

"While the streak may have been dismissed as a
satellite, NASA says no record of a satellite in that
position exists on a Web site" devoted to satellite
research.

One observer commented online, "What is truly bizarre
is that this object is visible for a good 55 minutes at
Haleakala and then for 30 minutes at Mauna Kea. Usually,
satellites take a few dozen seconds or so--at the most, a
couple of minutes--to cross the entire sky. If this was a
satellite, it was either very slow-moving or at a very
high altitude. I observed all the possibilities at
Heavens Above, and no satellite passage seems to fit the
description. It is also impossible to be a meteorite."
(See WorldNet Daily for February 8, 2005, "UFO over Hawaii
puzzles astronomers." Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for
this article.)

NIGHT SAUCER SPOTTED BY PAIR IN SYRACUSE, N.Y.

On Monday, February 7, 2005, at 10 p.m., Jackie K.
and her sister were walking in Schiller Park in Syracuse,
New York (population 147,306) when they spotted "something
strange approaching from the east."

"It was a large disc-shaped object which I saw on a
walk on my street with my sister," Jackie reported, "We
were looking towards a large parking lot when we noticed
this very large craft, which was low in the sky. At first
we thought it was a large airplane. It was moving very
slowly, had very bright lights and was very long."

"It was at treetop level and was continuing on a
steady course. It then dipped behind a building at the
street corner, so we ran down the sidewalk to see where it
was going."

"By now, I could see that there was no visible
protuberance or tail on the craft. At this time, the
object came to a stop, at an angle, and disappeared behind
the trees and houses and out of our sight."

"I was absolutely shocked. I could not believe what
I had just seen, and my sister couldn't believe it,
either. She ran home to get my binoculars. I stayed at
the spot to see if I could see anything else. I didn't
observe any other activity."

"As she returned with my binoculars, we walked to a
point where we thought it may have landed. We did not
have any luck, and we both were disappointed but very
excited over what we had seen. It didn't seem to make any
sound, but we were a distance from it. I would estimate
that we were two to three blocks away, but it was gigantic
to me, at least three average-sized jetliners long."

The UFO "was extremely low. I would estimate that it
was 40 feet (12 meters) above the ground, maybe lower.
The speed of the object was around 10 to 15 miles per hour
(16 to 24 kilometers) per hour as it approached. I would
say it headed away a lot faster." (Email Form Report)

SEMI-OCTAGONAL UFO SEEN IN LOS OSOS, CALIFORNIA

On Wednesday, February 9, 2004, at 8:30 p.m.,
eyewitness D.R. was at the Montana de Oro State Park two
miles (3 kilometers) south of Los Osos, California
(population 10,500) when he spotted something strange
approaching from the northeast.

"As I entered the campground in my car, I noticed a
semi-octagonal arrangement of bright white lights hanging
in the sky, unmoving, northeast of the campground," D.R.
reported, "Within the circumference of the shape, there
were two larger and more brilliant lights, one red, one
blue, and each seeming to be round in shape. I estimated
that they were 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 kilometers) away
from me. The red and blue lights moved freely and
erratically. They rapidly changed speed and direction and
in a manner that was extremely unnatural."

"My car rounded a bend, and I lost sight of the
spectacle. As I parked my car and started up a campfire,
I thought over what I had seen and dismissed it as some
sort of celebratory event that most likely included
helicopters with searchlights."

"However, less than 10 minutes later, the blue and
red lights appeared again, this time over the larger of
the low hills directly north of the campground. They
appeared to be closer now, perhaps 2 to 5 miles (3 to 8
kilometers) out. (That is, they were either nearer or else
bigger than before, seeing that their observable size had
increased in one way or another, or both--D.R.)"

"They were now visible not as lights but as
luminescent and roundish objects with exteriors featuring
several types of light sources--twirling, flashing and
steady directional lights. The objects dived about.
There was no discernible pattern to their movement. They
would alternately revolve around each other, seperate and
move in a different direction, hang still, etc."

"At least four times, the blue ball moved closer to
the campground, shining a very powerful and concentrated
beam in my direction (and sending a chill up my spine--
D.R.). The campground lit up with blue-white light each
time this happened, but the diameter of the beam, where it
hit the campground, was only about 60 feet (18 meters)."

"The display as seen from my position lasted for
about 10 minutes until the object dropped beneath the
horizon and did not re-emerge. I search the sky for a few
more minutes, but the object did not reappear."

"I took an empty water bottle and started walking
with it to the water tank in the campground. A bright red
star to the south-southwest caught the corner of my left
eye. I stopped walking and examined the star, because its
brilliance and heft of color was very unclear. I surveyed
the star for probably 30 seconds before concluding that
the red star might be the red object I had been observing
earlier. I stood and examined the object for a good two
to three minutes, during which time it did not appear to
move. In fact, it stood still enough that I was convinced
it was a star. The night sky, after all, was quite
littered with stars on this particular evening."

"I filled my water bottle at the tank. As I was
returning to my campsite, the red star now caught the
corner of my right eye as I turned to see that it was now
moving east or northeast. It moved in a straight line for
a few seconds, then "bobbed, made small loops and made
other small changes in velocity. The passage of the
object took it out of my sight, past the dozens of nearby
trees after a burst of generally eastward movement."

Los Osos, Cal. is located 12 miles (20 kilometers)
east of San Luis Obispo. (Email Form Report)

STRANGE PHENOMENON IN SAULT SAINTE MARIE, ONT.

"The big cross on the St. George Avenue hill" in
Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, at the eastern end of Lake
Superior, "is a local landmark."

"At 120 feet (36 meters) tall and brightly lit, it is
the first sight seen by U.S. visitors crossing the
International Bridge into Canada."

"It's intended to be a symbol of spiritual unity at
the geographic centre of North America."

"At the foot of the cross is a non-denominational
Oasis of Peace garden."

"Also located there is Notre Dame de Grand Lacs
(Translated: Our Lady of the Great Lakes--J.T.), a French-
language school by the Conseil Scolaire du District
Catholique de Nouvelle-Ontario."

"And around the school, there's talk of an extremely
odd occurrence said to have happened there 11 days ago."

"Witnesses told Soo Today that the cross was seen
doing something nobody has ever seen before, something
that a consulting engineer says is impossible."

"The school principal, its groundskeeper, a math
teacher and a large number of students saw the steel
structure swaying from side to side during a 150-minute
period on Monday, January 24, 2005."

"The visual observation was sufficient to prompt
school officials to move teacher Christopher Gravelle and
his Grade 10 math class out of a nearby portable classroom
into the school's library."

"The phenomenon also prompted them to call in a
consulting engineer from M.R. Wright and Associates Ltd.,
who found no structural damage. It has been noted that
there was no way the cross could have flexed the way the
witnesses said it did."

"The cross's alleged activity was first witnessed by
students, who reported it to Stephane Picard, the school's
principal."

"Math teacher Gravelle told Soo Today that around
8:30 a.m. on January 24, he was in the main school
building when he was approached by Picard."

"'My principal came up to me and said, 'Come here, I
want you to see something,' and we stepped out from the
school and walked to the cross,' Gravelle recalled."

"He was preparing to teach his Grade 10 math class in
a portable (trailer) located 20 meters (66 feet) northwest
of the cross."

"'I saw the cross was basically wavering. It seemed
like it was moving left and right about a foot (30
centimeters) in each direction,' Gravelle said."

"The principal also contacted Gerry Ouellette, author
of the 2002 book The Cross at the Center of the Continent
and the site's groundskeeper."

"'I got a call from the principal of the school,'
Ouellette says, ''You better come out here and look at
this,' is what he told me.'"

"Ouellette says he arrived at the Oasis of Peace a
short time after receiving the call and also witnessed
movement in the solid steel structure."

"'I didn't even believe it when I saw it,' he says."

"'About 25 to 30 feet (8 to 9 meters) from below the
cross's arms, close to the bottom, was just stationary.
And the top part was just going left-to-right, left-to-
right, left-to-right,' Ouellette insists."

"The sight rattled Ouellette, considered the local
expert on 'the Cross on the Hill,' as the structure is
commonly known around the Soo."

"'That thing never moves,' he says, 'I thought it's
going to have to come down because this thing doesn't move
the way it's braced and welded,' Ouellette said."

"Gravelle, who's been teaching at Notre Dame de Grand
Lacs since 1991, said that principal Picard shared
Ouellette's concern for the structure's integrity and
decided to relocate Gravelle's classes into the library
until further notice."

"Students from Notre Dame de Grand Lacs and the
adjacent St. Basil Secondary School had an opportunity to
come out into the yard and watch the cross sway until
around 11 a.m."

"Gravelle, who also teaches music, described the
motion of the cross as similar to that of a metronome."

"He timed it and found it to be moving at 44 beats
per minute."

"'It was constant, like a metronome, and it was going
left to right,' Gravelle says."

"Both Gravelle and Ouellette reported hearing a
crunching noise as the top of the cross reached either
extreme of its arc."

"'There was no wind, and it was a cold day, this I
know. If there was wind, I could understand, but there
was no wind at all. It was constant, the same rhythym,
and it lasted all morning,' Gravelle told Soo Today."

"Ouellette says the next step the principal took was
to contact Bob Wood of M.R. Wright and Associates Ltd., a
group of consulting engineers, to have the cross checked
for structural damage."

"By the time Wood arrived, the cross was motionless
again."

"'It wasn't moving and there was nothing wrong with
it after 11 a.m.,' said Ouellette."

"Since 11 a.m. on January 24 (2005), no one has
reported seeing the cross move again."

"'It was really something to see, though,' said
Ouellette, who says he doesn't know why the alleged
phenomenon occurred. He's certain, however, that it's a
sign of something."

Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. (population 80,054) is on
Provincial Highway 17, approximately 429 miles (686
kilometers) northwest of Toronto. (See the newspaper Soo
Today for February 4, 2005, "Miracle on St. George hill?
Did the big cross move?")

(Editor's Comment: I think this one was more geological
than supernatural. It sounds like the cross was vibrating
like a giant tuning fork, reacting to a disturbance deep
within the earth. It went on for two-and-a-half hours.
What really bothers me, though, is...how come the
seismographs didn't pick it up?)

THE BIG FREEZE CHILLS THE BALKANS

The Big Freeze swept into the Balkans last week,
creating record low temperatures and causing the Danube
River to freeze over.

"The Blue Danube looked more like Lake Superior,"
reader Nils Cortsen reported. "Parts of the river were
like slow-moving pack ice in the Arctic. Upriver
navigation was halted when ice choked the Danube at three
spots. Sixty merchant ships had to drop anchor wherever
they were" on Friday, February 11, 2005.

In Serbia, "the mercury reached a record low on
Friday," reader Aimee Kostunovic reported. "The
temperature at Minicevo that day was minus 35 degrees
Celsius (12 below zero on the Fahrenheit scale--J.T.).
This was the coldest temperature in Serbia in a hundred
years."

Elsewhere in the world, heavy rains and flooding were
reported.

"Troops in helicopters hauled relief supplies to
flood-swamped villages in southwestern Pakistan on
Sunday," February 13, 2005, "as the nationwide death toll
from a week of heavy rain and snow topped 360."

"Hungry survivors, their homes and livestock swept
away when the Shadikor Dam burst its banks" on Thursday,
February 10, 2005, "huddled on high ground in the worst-
hit province of Baluchistan, where at least 1,000 people
were still missing."

Pakistani "officials said a second smaller dam
collapsed elsewhere in the province Sunday, killing seven
people, while scores more casualties from avalanches and
landslides were reported in the northwest and the
Himalayan region of Kashmir."

"About 4,000 (Pakistani) troops supported by
helicopters, coast guard boats and C-130 transport planes
hauled food, medicine and tents to Pasni, close to where
the 490-foot (147-meter) long Shadikor Dam burst Thursday,
sweeping 70 people into the Arabian Sea."

In Venezuela, torrential rains along the northern
coast caused flooding and evacuations from Puerto la Cruz
to Capuano. The Venezuelan army sent in eight heavy-lift
helicopters to assist the civilian population in escaping
flooded areas.

In the USA, "for the second time in just a month and
a half, the Southwest is reeling from the effects of a
downpour-generating storm. Flood watches and warnings are
out in perenially dry cities such as Phoenix and Tucson"
in Arizona "and Las Vegas" in Nevada.

"Authorities elsewhere in Arizona were trying to cope
with damage from the weekend storms--the state's third
round of heavy rains since late December (2004)."

"Flooding on the Verde River north of Phoenix damaged
about 16 homes in a rural area. No injuries or deaths
were reported."

"In Wickenburg, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of
downtown Phoenix, two homes and a car were swept away by a
swollen river. Mayor Ron Badowski said the area of town
hardest hit received sewer, electric and water-line
damage."

"About 40 residents from two mobile home parks about
80 miles (124 kilometers) northeast of Phoenix left their
homes because of rising water from Tonto Creek."

"People living east of Tonto Creek in central Arizona
were also stranded because of flooding at low water
crossings, said Mariano Gonzalez, Gila County Emergency
Management deputy director."

Las Vegas had "more rain fall on Saturday," February
12, 2005, "than usually comes down in two Februaries
combined."

Heavy rains took place over the weekend in southern
California. "With heavy rains falling late Friday, Opids
Camp in the mountains near Los Angeles had recorded 4.5
inches of rain (11.2 centimeters) while Beverly Hills
received 2 inches (5 centimeters. The rain story over the
past four months in Los Angeles has been stunning with
24.5 inches (57.25 centimeters) down since October 1
(2004)--nearly three times normal!" (See the Chicago
Tribune for February 12, 2005, "L.A. rainfall well over 2
feet since October," page 20; BBC World News for February
11, 2005; the Duluth, Minn. News-Tribune for February 14,
2005, "Death toll rises from flooding," page 2A; and USA
Today for February 14, 2005, "Flooding forces some Arizona
residents to flee," page 2A. Many thanks to Nils Cortsen
and Aimee Kostunovic for the additional information.)

LAST SURVIVING FATIMA SEER DIES IN PORTUGAL

Lucia de Jesus Abobora dos Santos, "the last of the
three children who claimed to see the Virgin of Fatima and
whose vision is said to have foretold the attempt to kill
Pope John Paul II, died on Sunday," February 13, 2005.
"She was 97."

Lucia was born in Aljustrel, a village in the Serra
da Aire mountains of central Portugal, on March 22, 1907,
the daughter of Antonio and Maria Rosa dos Santos. She
was the youngest of seven children.

"Dos Santos, who later became a nun, was the eldest
of the three children who in 1917 told of seeing
apparitions of the Virgin Mary six times. She died at the
Carmelite convent at Coimbra in central Portugal."

"'She had been ill for several months and had not
left her cell,' Bishop Albino Cleto of Coimbra told the
(Roman Catholic) Radio Renascenca."

"The Vatican interpreted one part of her vision as
foretelling the attempt to kill the Pope and Communism's
persecution of Christianity. The apparitions took place
the same year as the Russian Revolution."

"The Pope believes the Lady of Fatima saved his life
on May 13, 1982 when Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca nearly
killed him in St. Peter's Square."

"In a sign of gratitude, a year after the
assassination attempt, the Pope had one of the 9-
millimeter bullets placed in the crown of the statue at
Fatima."

"'One had fired the bullet and another guided it,'
the Pope once said of Agca's attempt to kill him."

"Dos Santos was said by believers to be the main
recipient of prophecies from the Virgin about key
Twentieth Century events. The first two parts of the
prophecy were known for decades. The first was a vision
of Hell. The second predicted the outbreak of World War
II. But it was the third part, the so-called 'Secret of
Fatima,' which kept the world intrigued for more than 80
years."

"The Vatican released its interpretation of the
vision during the Pope's visit to Fatima in May 2000 on
the anniversary of the assassination attempt. One of"
Lucia's "last public appearances was with the Pope at
Fatima."

"Dos Santos's recollection of that part of the
vision, which she wrote down in 1944, was 'a bishop
dressed in white (and) we had the impression it was the
Holy Father (a pope of the future--J.T.)."

"As the vision continued, the children saw the Pope
reaching the top of a mountain where 'he was killed by a
group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him.'"

(Editor's Comment: This isn't what happened in St. Peter's
Square on May 13, 1981. As far as I'm concerned, this
prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. I think this vision
refers to the Pope of the Last Days--whoever he is.)

"Before the Vatican revealed the vision, papal envoys
visited Dos Santos in her cloistered convent to seek her
opinion of the Vatican's interpretation and her permission
to reveal it."

"'She repeated her conviction that the vision of
Fatima concerned above all the struggle of atheistic
communism against the Church and against Christians, and
describes the terrible suffering of the victims of the
faith in the Twentieth Century,' a Vatican document said
in 2000."

"The events of Fatima unfolded against a backdrop of
religious persecution under anti-clerical (Masonic)
factions that ruled Portugal after the overthrow of the
monarchy in 1910."

"In 1916, she experienced her first vision, when an
angel appeared to the children, she wrote in her memoirs."

"On May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to her and
her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, on an oak tree.
On her last appearance (October 13, 1917), before an
estimated 50,000 onlookers, witnesses claimed to have seen
a 15-minute spectacle of bright lights and whirling
colors."

"In her memoirs, dos Santos said the Virgin Mary
appeared to the children six times in 1917. Jacinta and
Francisco died in the (Spanish) influenza pandemic of 1919
and 1920. The two were beatified--the last step to
sainthood--by Pope John Paul II during his Fatima visit in
May 2000."

"One of" Lucia's "last visitors was actor Mel Gibson,
director of the 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ. He
met with her at the convent in Coimbra in July 2004 and
gave her a DVD of his movie."

In 1929, while a novice Roman Catholic nun at Tuy in
northern Spain, Lucia had another series of visions. In
one, Jesus Christ appeared to her and warned that "the
Last Days will be here sooner than anyone thinks."

In 1938, she wrote her first set of memoirs. Her
third and final account of the apparations was written in
1944 and submitted to the Bishop of Leiera. (See the
Brazilian newspaper O Globo for February 14, 2005. Muito
obrigado a Brunilda Barros, Manuel Figueiredo e Jim
Hickman por eso caso. For more on Lucia's two cousins,
see UFO Roundup, volume 5, number 10 for March 9, 2000,
"1910: Unforgettable Jacinta Marto," page 6; and UFO
Roundup, volume 7, number 24 for June 11, 2002, "1908:
Unforgettable Francisco Marto," page 8.)

(Editor's Comment: Now that's interesting. The Virgin
Mary appeared on the 13th day of the month from May
through October in 1917. And Lucia passed away on the
13th day of February in 2005.)

BLACK HELICOPTERS AND BLACKOUT IN REHOBOTH

On Friday, February 11, 2005, at 12:30 p.m., UFO
Roundup correspondent Mary Lou Jones-Drown reported, "I
was running the washing machine when I heard a strange
noise outside. A couple of minutes later, I recognized it
as helicopters. I went out into the backyard. I saw two
of them right over my house" in Rehoboth, Mass., 30 miles
(48 kilometers) south of Boston. "They were black
helicopters. Military. All black. Looked like (UH-60)
Blackhawks. They weren't very high up. Five hundred feet
(150 meters), I'd say. They hovered over my house for
several minutes and then they headed (east) towards
Taunton (population 55,976)."

An hour later, she added, "I heard helicopters again.
I went out to the barn and saw two of them. They were
quite a distance away, right on the eastern horizon,
flying from southeast to the northeast. There were two of
them, one in front of the other. It looked like they were
heading for Boston. When I went back in the house, both
the TV and the lights went out. No power. We were
without power until just before 3 p.m."

By 3:30 p.m., Mary Lou reported, her telephone was
ringing off the hook. "I had over a dozen reports of
black helicopters. One elderly lady phoned me and said,
'Did you see how the power went off when they flew over?'"

Some of the callers saw both sorties; most reported
seeing only the south-to-north overflight. A woman in
South Attleboro, Mass. called Massachusetts Electric and
was reportedly told, 'We're having a power outage,' but
was not given a reason for the loss of power.

In the Dodgeville section of nearby Attleboro, Mass.,
a woman was driving south on Route 152 when "two black
helicopters came over the fire station from the east, just
above treetop height, and shot over the cemetery. Then
they took off to the northwest."

In North Rehoboth, a resident "saw the black
helicopter hovering over my garage. I went outside, and
it took off, heading for Route 118."

In Seekonk, students at the high school, located at
the corner of Fall River Avenue and Ledge Road, spotted "a
line of black helicopters coming from Providence (Rhode
Island, i.e. the west--J.T.) and going toward Rehoboth"
while boarding school buses at 2 p.m.

The same Friday, witnesses driving on Route 16 in
Hopedale, Mass. (population 4,518) "saw three black
helicopters circling low over the old textile mill. By
the time we got to Nipmunk Pond (southwest of Hopedale--
J.T.), they broke off and flew away to the northeast.
They were very loud."

Hopedale is located 30 miles (48 kilometers)
northwest of Rehoboth, well out of the immediate area of
the Friday sightings. (Many thanks to Mary Lou Jones-
Drown for these reports.)

NASA ABANDONS HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE

"NASA plans to bury the Hubble Space Telescope rather
than fix it, the space agency revealed Monday," February
7, 2005.

"Outgoing NASA chief Sean O'Keefe made the
announcement as he unveiled the agency's $16.46 billion
budget proposal for 2006."

"Hubble, which was launched in 1990, is widely
considered the crown jewel of U.S. space science.
Astronomers, politicians and members of the public have
been lobbying for a mission to extend its life."

"But O'Keefe says NASA's priorities are to meet
President (George W.) Bush's call for exploration of the
moon and Mars. He also said the space agency had to meet
obligations to finish construction of the International
Space Station and launch a space shuttle this year."

"NASA will continue financing Hubble operations until
its failure, which is expected sometime after 2007.
O'Keefe plans to bring the telescope out of orbit and
dispose of it in the atmosphere by 2013."

"'It is my judgement call,' O'Keefe says. He cited
two reports:"

"(1) The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's
safety requirements for shuttle flights rule out Hubble
repairs by astronauts. The board was formed after seven
astronauts were killed in the disintegration of the space
shuttle Columbia in 2003."

"(2) A National Research Council panel maintained
last year (2004) that a robot repair mission in 2007 was
technologically too risky."

"After a public outcry last year when O'Keefe
disclosed plans to let Hubble die, the director backed
off. He publicly supported a robotic repair mission,
which will get a NASA review next month."

"But by removing money from this budget for a robotic
rescue, the window of opportunity to revive such an effort
before Hubble's batteries or stabilizing gyroscopes fail
becomes much narrower."

"'The lock of money for a robotic Hubble mission is
both an opening move in what the White House certainly
knows will be a heated interaction with Congress and a
'logical' response to the NRC report,' says John Logsdon
of George Washington (D.C.) University."

"The House Science Committee plans a hearing on
NASA's budget and Hubble this month."

"'Hubble's best days are ahead of it, not behind it,'
says Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Democrat of Maryland). 'I
will fight in the Senate this year to fund a servicing
mission to Hubble by 2008.'"

"A second science mission, the 2015 Jupiter Icy Moons
Orbiter, is not financed yet. NASA's Craig Steidle says
the nuclear reactor needed for the mission was too
advanced a technology to pull off by 2015."

"'My first reaction to the budget is quite positive,'
says Lennard Fisk, who heads the Research Council's Space
Studies Board. He notes that the budget includes
financing for a Mars orbiter, a Pluto mission and an
infrared telescope for 2011." (See USA Today for February
8, 2005, "NASA decides to abandon, not repair,
deteriorating Hubble telescope," page 9D.)

SATURN IN THE NEWS

"Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a volcano
have discovered a hot spot at the tip of Saturn's south
pole."

"The infrared images captured by the Keck I telescope
at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea on the Big
Island of Hawaii suggest a warm polar vortex--a large-
scale weather pattern likened to a jet stream on Earth
that occurs in the upper atmosphere. It's the first such
hot vortex ever discovered in the solar system."

"The team of scientists say the images are the
sharpest thermal views of Saturn ever taken from the
ground."

"This warm polar cap is believed to contain the
highest temperatures on Saturn; the scientists did not
give a temperature estimate."

"On Earth, the Arctic Polar Vortex is typically
located over eastern North America in Canada and plunges
cold arctic air to the northern Plains in the United
States."

"Polar vortices are found on Earth, Jupiter, Mars and
Venus, and are colder than their surroundings. The new
images from the Keck Observatory show the first evidence
of a polar vortex at much warmer temperatures."

"'Saturn's is the first hot polar vortex that we've
seen because it's been sitting in the sunlight for about
18 years,' said Glenn S. Orton, a scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and lead
author."

"Saturn, which takes many Earth years to orbit the
sun, just had its summer solstice in 2002."

Meanwhile, the robot spacecraft Cassini, now orbiting
Saturn, picked up some interesting new data this week.

"New natural-color images from the orbiting Cassini
spacecraft show that Saturn's northern hemisphere has the
blues."

"The color of Saturn's northern latitudes may be
linked to the apparently cloud-free upper atmosphere,
scientists say."

"The images were taken with Cassini's wide-angle
camera on (Tuesday) December 14 (2004) from a distance of
446,900 miles (715,040 kilometers). The Cassini/Huygens
mission is a collaboration between NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency."

ODDBALL ARSON CASE IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA

A mysterious case of arson was reported in Cotton
Valley, Louisiana (population 1,189).

"Two volunteer firefighters were charged with arson
after admitting that they torched a former Masonic lodge,
police said."

"David Dick, 19, and Michael Musgrove, 18, have been
suspended from the Cotton Valley Volunteer Fire
Department. A third volunteer was charged with being an
accessory after the fact."

"The state fire marshal is trying to determine a
motive."

Cotton Valley is in northern Louisiana, at the
intersection of Highway 371 and Route 160 about 25 miles
(40 kilometers) northeast of Shreveport. (See USA Today
for February 11, 2005, "Across the USA--Louisiana," page
10A.)

SEA SERPENT WASHES ASHORE IN PERTH, W.A.

"A rare and dead oarfish washed up at City Beach in
Perth," the capital of Western Australia state in
Australia on Saturday, February 5, 2005, "proving more
than a handful for Troy Coward, Andy Mole and Axel
Strauss."

"The reptile-like animal was found 6 meters (20 feet)
offshore, bring to at least six the number of oarfish that
have washed up on the West Australian coast in recent
months. Preferring to live in the depths of the (Indian)
ocean, they have only been known to come to the surface
when sick or dying and have rarely been seen alive."

(Editor's Comment: Six oarfish at the surface!? Clearly
something is going on at the floor of the Indian Ocean,
which may or may not be related to the December 26, 2004
earthquake that measured a whopping 9.0 on the Richter
scale.)

"Living in the world's warmer oceans," the oarfish
"feeds on plankton and is harmless to humans," despite its
snake-like appearance. "The longest bony fish in the sea,
it grows up to 9 meters (30 feet) long with a bright red
crest that runs the length of the body."

"It is probably the creature that sparked 'sea
serpent' legends following sightings by ancient mariners."

"Last year (2004), a woman in Cleveland on the
northeastern coast of England caught a 63.5 kilogram (31
pound), 3.5-meter (12-foot) long oarfish while fishing for
cod using a squid bait. Scientists were disappointed when
the woman sliced it up and put it in her freezer."

"The fish was not good to eat."

"The (Perth) specimen found yesterday was too
decomposed to study and has been disposed of." (See
Underwater Times for February 6, 2005, "Rare sea serpent
washes up on Aussie beach." Many thanks to Nigel Murray
for this newspaper article.)

(Editor's Note: For more on undersea species being driven
to the surface, see UFO Roundup, volume 10, number 4 for
January 26, 2005, "Hundreds of squid invade southern
California," page 2.)

From the UFO Files...

1966: LAIR OF THE REPTOIDS

Numerous texts of ancient India contain references to
space travel and alien beings. For example, the Surya
Siddhanta, one of the oldest books on astronomy, "speaks
of Siddhas and Vidyaharas, or philosophers and scientists,
who were able to orbit the earth in a former epoch 'below
the moon but above the clouds.'"

Were these fanciful science fiction tales the ancient
Hindus concocted to amuse themselves? Or were they
fragmented recollections of a previous Space Age "when men
flew in the air in skyships and heavenly beings came down
from the sky?"

One who tried to find out was Andreas Boncza-
Tomaszewski, better known as "Andrew Tomas." Born in 1906
to a wealthy Polish family living in St. Petersburg, then
the capital of Russia, Andrew and his family fled during
the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918. Andrew emigrated to
Australia in 1948 and, with Edgar Jarrold, founded the
Australian Flying Saucer Bureau in 1952.

In 1966, Andrew, intrigued by references to vimanas
(UFOs) in the ancient writings of India, traveled to
Darjeeling and visited the Ghum Monastery. From there he
made the pilgrimage north to Mount Kinchinjunga, which he
mentions in both of his books, We Are Not the First and On
the Shores of Endless Worlds.

"Old Sanskrit texts speak of the Nagas, or Serpent
Gods, who live in underground palaces lighted by luminous
gems in the vastness of the Himalayas," Andrew wrote, "The
Nagas are flying creatures who go on long voyages in the
sky. The belief in the Nagas is so firmly imprinted in
the (Indian) national consciousness that even today motion
pictures and large plays exploit this theme to the delight
of Indian audiences."

"The subterranean city of the Nagas--Bhogawati--
brilliantly illuminated by diamonds may perhaps be a
folklore image of a space base, lighted and air-
conditioned. We wonder if those cosmonauts are still
there."

Judging from the recent reports coming out of the
Himalayas, we'd have to say YES.

Is Bhogawati the name of the Reptoids' base in the
Himalayas? During his 1966 pilgrimage, Andrew interviewed
a sadhu (itinerant Hindu holy man--J.T.) who said he knew
someone who had actually been there.

"Even in this jet-age, every Hindu is familiar with
and usually believes in the legend of the Nagas, the
'serpents' (Reptoids?) which live in extensive underground
palaces in the rocky Himalayas. It is believed that these
creatures are able to fly in space and that they possess
amazing magical powers and intelligence. They are not too
fond of man if he is a curiosity seeker, explorer or
mountaineer."

"According to the sacred traditions of the Hindus,
the deep caverns of the Nagas contain fabulous treasures,
illuminated by flashing precious stones. The subterranean
abodes are known to be in certain parts of the Himalayas
and Tibet, particularly around 'the Lake of the Great
Nagas,' Lake Manasarowar."

A few weeks after his stay in Darjeeling, Andrew
"decided to go to the Kulu Valley in the Western part of
the Himalayas to visit Naggar, where Nicholas Roerich had
lived. Since I had known him personally (in the 1930s--
J.T.), the trip had a sentimental overtone."

"A narrow curving road, a precipice on one side with
rocks and avalanches on the other, were not conducive to
an enjoyable journey to this remote region near Ladakh and
Tibet. The village of Naggar derives its name from Naga,
the Serpent. High up in the mountains lies Roerich's
estate. Having been an artist of note, his two-storied
house contains a museum of his paintings."

(Editor's Note: Nicholas Roerich also spotted a silver
daylight disc over the Himalayas while riding in a caravan
in July 1926.)

"As I began my ascent on the mountain path, I saw a
tall, gray-haired sadhu, sitting by a mountain torrent.
In his hand he held a cobra-shaped staff, which together
with the markings on his forehead, signified that he was a
devotee of Shiva. During the earlier, more peaceful times
of the British Raj (1757-1947) these pilgrims would travel
to the Lake of the Great Nagas, Lake Manasarowar, or to
Mount Kailas, the abode of Shiva, in Tibetan territory."

"I climbed the mountain and reached the terrace on
which Roerich's house is built. I spent at least an hour
studying the master's paintings. On the way back, I
admired the narrow valley and the looming snow-capped
mountain ridges on each side."

"The sadhu was still there. I thought, 'A place
called Naggar, a devotee of the Nagas with the cobra
staff, if he does not know something about the Nagas, then
who does?' Knowing the ways of the East, I saluted the
holy man with the folded hands in the fashion that is
customary in India, and waited for the older man to speak
first."

"'You like Roerich's paintings?' he said in fluent
English."

"'Very much, indeed. Tell me, did you know the
Master in life?'"

"'Yes, for many years. A great Rishi (Hindu wizard--
J.T.) and a friend of (Prime Minister Jawarlahal Pandit)
Nehru.'"

"'Venerable sadhu, I believe in the Nagas. Have you
seen them?' I asked diplomatically."

"'I am a poor sadhu. I know nothing, sahib. But
about twenty years ago (1947, the year of Kenneth Arnold's
UFO sighting--J.T.), my yogi teacher went into the
mountain kingdom of the Nagas. Bright light everywhere,
big halls like the Taj Mahal. Wonderful. The Nagas have
many, many things and machines. They are clever, like
Cambridge men, maybe more clever, sahib.'"

"I could not help laughing."

"'Your yogi must have been a Rishi. Don't the Nagas
destroy men by their sting?' I asked."

"'Yes, though the Nagas are gods and wish nothing but
good to man, they do not like men who have no business
near their palaces,' he replied."

"'If you ever see the Nagas, give them my greeting,'
I said before parting."

"The sadhu tilted his head sideways three times,
which in India replaces our (Western) nod."

"'China lets in no more pilgrims, I can only go
through the long holes (ancient Uighur underground
tunnels--J.T.), but I am too old now,' he concluded."

"Walking towards the village I looked back at the old
sadhu with the cobra staff. My two encounters remain
fresh in my memory," Andrew wrote, "The one under the
silvery glaciers of Kinchinjunga, the other by the torrent
of Naggar, on the bank of which sat that ascetic of
Aryavarta, the holy land of the Mahabharata." (See the
books We Are Not the First by Andrew Tomas, Bantam Books,
New York, N.Y., 1973, pages 108, 109, 116 and 117; and On
the Shores of Endless Worlds by Andrew Tomas, Bantam
Books, New York, N.Y., 1976, pages 119, 120, 121, 123,
150, 151, 155, 156 and 157.)

Well, that's it for this week. Join us next time for
more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from around the
planet Earth--and occasionally, Saturn--brought to you by
"the paper that goes home, UFO Roundup." See you next
time.

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2005 by Masinaigan Productions, all
rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO
Roundup on their Web sites or in news groups provided that
they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list
the date of issue in which the item first appeared.